The tyrosine kinase activity of the chicken insulin receptor is similar to that of the human insulin receptor

Insulin receptor localization in the embryonic avian hypothalamus

The hypothalamus is a brain region critical for the homeostatic regulation of appetite and energy expenditure. Hypothalamic neuronal activity that is altered during development can produce permanent physiological changes later in life. For example, circulating hormones such as insulin have been shown to influence hypothalamic neuronal projections, leading to altered metabolism in adult rodents. While insulin signaling in the post-hatch chicken has been shown to mirror that of mammals, the developmental role of insulin in the avian embryonic hypothalamus remains largely unexplored. Here we present the earliest known evidence for insulin receptor (InsR) expression in embryonic avian hypothalamic nuclei governing energy homeostasis. RT-PCR analysis reveals InsR mRNA in E8, E10, and E12 neurons while western blot data demonstrate protein expression in E12 avian whole brain and hypothalamic lysates. Immunohistochemical analysis of avian hypothalamic brain slices demonstrates a shift in InsR localization from paraventricular expression in E8 to a more defined concentration of InsR in developmental regions resembling the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and arcuate nucleus (ARC) in E12 time points. In addition, InsR expression appears in a heterogeneous pattern, suggesting receptor localization to subpopulations of avian hypothalamic neurons as early as E8. With increasing evidence suggesting energy homeostasis pathways may be altered via the gestational environment, it is important to understand how insulin signaling may affect embryogenesis. Our research provides evidence for the earliest known embryonic expression of InsR protein in the avian hypothalamus and may suggest a developmental role for insulin signaling in the early patterning of metabolic pathways in the central nervous system.

Acquired alterations of hypothalamic gene expression of insulin and leptin receptors and glucose transporters in prenatally high-glucose exposed three-week old chickens do not coincide with aberrant promoter DNA methylation

Background

Prenatal exposures may have a distinct impact for long-term health, one example being exposure to maternal ‘diabesity’ during pregnancy increasing offspring ‘diabesity’ risk. Malprogramming of the central nervous regulation of body weight, food intake and metabolism has been identified as a critical mechanism. While concrete disrupting factors still remain unclear, growing focus on acquired epigenomic alterations have been proposed. Due to the independent development from the mother, the chicken embryo provides a valuable model to distinctively establish causal factors and mechanisms.

Aim

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of prenatal hyperglycemia on postnatal hypothalamic gene expression and promoter DNA methylation in the chicken.

Methods and Findings

To temporarily induce high-glucose exposure in chicken embryos, 0.5 ml glucose solution (30 mmol/l) were administered daily via catheter into a vessel of the chorioallantoic egg membrane from days 14 to 17 of incubation. At three weeks of postnatal age, body weight, total body fat, blood glucose, mRNA expression (INSR, LEPR, GLUT1, GLUT3) as well as corresponding promoter DNA methylation were determined in mediobasal hypothalamic brain slices (Nucleus infundibuli hypothalami). Although no significant changes in morphometric and metabolic parameters were detected, strongly decreased mRNA expression occurred in all candidate genes. Surprisingly, however, no relevant alterations were observed in respective promoter methylation.

Conclusion

Prenatal hyperglycemia induces strong changes in later hypothalamic expression of INSR, LEPR, GLUT1, and GLUT3 mRNA. While the chicken provides an interesting approach for developmental malprogramming, the classical expression regulation via promoter methylation was not observed here. This may be due to alternative/interacting brain mechanisms or the thus far under-explored bird epigenome.

Insulin signaling in chicken liver and muscle

This review addresses the control exerted by insulin through its receptor on the general metabolism and gene expression in chicken liver and muscle. Compared with mammals, chickens have similar concentrations of circulating insulin, but still maintain high plasma glucose levels. This may be a consequence of the low sensitivity of the chicken to exogenous insulin. In order to determine whether this low sensitivity is the result of differences in insulin receptor signaling between mammals and birds, insulin receptors have been characterized in several chicken tissues and two insulin receptor substrates (IRS-1 and Shc) have been described in liver and muscle. Compared with mammals current knowledge of insulin signaling in birds is incomplete. This is particularly evident when considering the number of isoforms of the components involved in the insulin cascade (IRSs, AKT, ERK and others) many of which may have not been characterized in the chicken. Despite these shortfalls in available data, it appears that insulin signaling in chicken liver is similar to that in mammals, but is unlike that in mammals in muscle. In leg muscle, chickens differ from mammals in the early steps of the insulin signaling cascade (IR, IRS-1 and PI3K) where PI3K activity is about 30-fold greater in the chicken than in the rat. This "constitutive" hyperactivity of PI3K in chicken muscle may over-stimulate a feedback inhibitory pathway described in mammals thereby desensitizing chicken muscle to insulin.

Central insulin suppresses feeding behavior via melanocortins in chicks

Growing evidence suggests that insulin interacts with both orexigenic and anorexigenic peptides in the brain for the control of feeding behavior in mammals. However, the action of central insulin in chicks has not yet been identified. In the present study, we investigated the effects of central injection of insulin on feeding behavior in chicks. Intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of insulin, at doses that do not influence peripheral glucose levels, significantly inhibited food intake in chicks. Central injection of insulin in chicks significantly increased expression of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA, and decreased that of neuropeptide Y (NPY) mRNA. Finally, co-injection of the melanocortin antagonist (SHU9119 or HS014) prevented the reduction in food intake caused by ICV administration of insulin. These data suggest that insulin functions in chicks as an appetite-suppressive peptide in the central nervous system, and that the central melanocortin system mediates this anorexic effect of insulin, as in mammals.

Mechanisms involved in the nutritional regulation of mRNA translation: features of the avian model

Abstract:Insulin and amino acids are key factors in regulating protein synthesis. The mechanisms of their action have been widely studied for several years. The insulin signal is mediated by the activation of intracellular kinases such as phosphatidylinositol–3'kinase and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), affecting the phosphorylation of some major effectors involved in the regulation of translation initiation, i.e. p70 S6 kinase (p70S6K) and the translational repressor eukaryotic initiation factor 4E binding protein (4E-BP1). The amino acid–induced signalling cascade also originates from mTOR and promotes p70S6K and 4E–BP1 activation. However, the mechanisms of regulation are complex and little understood, especiallyin vivo. Elucidating these mechanisms is important for both fundamental physiology and nutritional applications, i.e. better control of the use of nutrients and optimisation of dietary amino acid supplies in various physiological and physiopathological situations. In comparative physiology, the chicken is an interesting model to gain better understanding of the nutritional regulation of mRNA translation because of the very high rates of muscle growth and protein synthesis, and the unusual features compared with mammals. In the present review we provide an overview of the roles of insulin and amino acids as regulators of protein synthesis in both mammals and avian species.

Regulation of protein metabolism by insulin: value of different approaches and animal models

Insulin induces protein accretion by stimulating protein synthesis and inhibiting proteolysis. However, the mechanisms of regulation of protein metabolism by insulin are complex and still not completely understood. The use of approaches combining hyperinsulinemic clamp and isotopic methods, or measurement of the activation of intracellular kinases involved in insulin signaling, in addition to the use of different animal models in a comparative physiology process, provide better understanding of the potential regulation of protein metabolism by insulin. Studies using the clamp technique in lactating goats have shown a clear inhibitory effect of insulin on proteolysis, with an interaction between the effects of insulin and amino acids. Such studies revealed that the insulin-inhibited proteolysis is improved in lactating goats, this adaptative process limiting the mobilization of body protein under the conditions of amino acid deficit which occurs during early lactation. Insulin signaling studies in growing chickens have also provided some interesting features of insulin regulation compared to mammals. Refeeding or insulin injection leads to the activation of the early steps of insulin receptor signaling in the liver but not in the muscle. Muscle p70 S6 kinase, a kinase involved in the insulin activation of protein synthesis, was found to be markedly activated in response to insulin and to refeeding, suggesting that other signaling pathways than those classically described in mammalian muscles may be involved in signal transduction. Finally, although the role of insulin has been doubtful and has long been considered to be minor in ruminants and in avian species, this hormone clearly regulates protein metabolism in both species.

Insulin and amino acid availability regulate atrogin-1 in avian QT6 cells

New evidence has demonstrated that the expression of major genes, termed atrogenes, controls the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway. The present work aimed to study the impact of insulin and amino acids on the expression of one of these atrogenes, the E3 ubiquitin ligase Muscle Atrophy F box (MAFbx, also called atrogin-1), in quail muscle (QT6) fibroblasts. First, we characterized atrogin-1 in QT6 cells and demonstrated the insulin sensitivity of these cells. Second, we showed that insulin reduced atrogin-1 mRNA via the phosphatidylinositol-3'kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (PKB or AKT)/target of rapamycin (TOR) pathway. Atrogin-1 expression also depended on the availability of an individual amino acid, i.e., methionine. Moreover, the amino acid-induced reduction of atrogin-1 was inhibited by rapamycin, indicating the involvement of the TOR pathway in such regulation. In conclusion, expression of the ubiquitin ligase atrogin-1 is regulated by both insulin and amino acids through the TOR pathway.

Neuroendocrinology of protochordates: Insights from Ciona genomics

The genome for two species of Ciona is available making these tunicates excellent models for studies on the evolution of the chordates. In this review most of the data is from Ciona intestinalis, as the annotation of the C. savignyi genome is not yet available. The phylogenetic position of tunicates at the origin of the chordates and the nature of the genome before expansion in vertebrates allows tunicates to be used as a touchstone for understanding genes that either preceded or arose in vertebrates. A comparison of Ciona, a sea squirt, to other model organisms such as a nematode, fruit fly, zebrafish, frog, chicken and mouse shows that Ciona has many useful traits including accessibility for embryological, lineage tracing, forward genetics, and loss- or gain-of-function experiments. For neuroendocrine studies, these traits are important for determining gene function, whereas the availability of the genome is critical for identification of ligands, receptors, transcription factors and signaling pathways. Four major neurohormones and their receptors have been identified by cloning and to some extent by function in Ciona: gonadotropin-releasing hormone, insulin, insulin-like growth factor, and cionin, a member of the CCK/gastrin family. The simplicity of tunicates should be an advantage in searching for novel functions for these hormones. Other neuroendocrine components that have been annotated in the genome are a multitude of receptors, which are available for cloning, expression and functional studies.